Machine for measuring and packaging seeds



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

Patented Deo. 14, 1886.

Metzler. Jseph @.Brown,

y ./urney.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,.

J. 0. BROWN. MACHINE FOR MEASURING AND PACKAGING SEEDS. No. 354,094. Patented Deo. 14, 1886.

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Unirnn STATES T Arnivr Fries.

JOSEPH C. BROWN, OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT.

MACHINE FOR MEASURING AND PACKAGING SEEDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 4,094, dated December 14, 1886.

Application filed February 1, 1886. Serial No. 190.506. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH O. BROWN, of

Burlington, in the county of Chittenden andl State ot' Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Measuring and Packaging Seeds and other Sub stances, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for measuring and packaging seeds or granulated substances, and is an improvement upon the in vention described inthe Letters Patent No. 319,672, granted to me June 9, 1885; and it consists in certain novel constructions, arrangements, and combinations of devices which will be best understood by reference to the description ot the drawings, and to the claims to be hereinafter given.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan of a machine embodying my invention with the cover of the receiver removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 1 l on Fig. 1. Fig. Sisapartial vertical transverse section on line 2 2 on Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section through the envelope-feed. box on line 33 on Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a partal sectional plan, the cutting-plane being on line 4 4 on Fig. 2, and showing the arrangement ofthe cams for operating the turn table and the vibrating measuring-receptacle. Fig'. 6 is an elevation of the cam and lever for imparting motion to the pawl-carrying rod for operating the turntable and the plunger for packing away the.

filled packages. 'Fig 7 is a plan of the plunger for packing away the titled packages, a portion ot' the pawl-carrying rod, and the lever connecting said rod and plunger. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 are respectively a front, side, and rear elevation ot' the envelope-carrying funnel and elamping-spring;and Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, and l5 are detail views to be' hereinafter .referred to.

In the drawings,`A is the bed or main table of the machine, designed to be supported upon suitable legs, (not showm) and upon which are mounted all the working parts of the machine.

B is a hopper or receiver supported at the desired elevation above said bed or table upon the legs B', said hopper consisting ol' an annula-r chamber having inclined walls, as shown in Fig. 2. lhe inner wail of said annular chamber is composed of a hollow frustum of a cone, B2. secured in axed position to the bottom BJ ofthe hopper or receiver B.

O is a shaft having its bearings in the upper end ot' the cone B2 and in the bottom B, and provided with the shoulder O' at its upper end, and having secured to its lower end the bevel gear-wheel D, with which the bevel gear-wheel D', mounted upon the horizontal shaft E, engagcs,to impart to the vertical shaft C a rotary motion, motion being imparted to the shalt E by means ot the flywheel or pulley E' and a suitable belt leading thereto from any prime mover; or the wheel or the pulley E may be revolved by hand. Y

G is an annular cam supported in a fixed position above the table A by theylegs G', which meet in the center of said cam and form a central hub, in which is formed a bearing for the vertical shaft H, having mounted upon its upper end the spider like head H and upon its lower end the ratchet-wheel H2, having aseries of tcetlras shown. Thespiderhead H' has pivoted thereto a series of radial arms, H3, corresponding to the number of teeth in the ratchet-wheel H2, each of said arms resting upon the upper edge ol" the annular cam G and carrying at its outer end a funnel, l, as shown. A

An intermittent rotary motion is imparted to the head H' and arms H3 by means of the rod J and pawl J', mounted thereon, to which a reciprocating motion is imparted by means of the cam J2, mounted upon the shaft E. acting upon one end of the elbow-lever J3, the opposite end ot' which is pivoted to the rod J, as shown in Fig. 6.

K is a measuring-box which receives the y seeds or other substances from the receiver through the opening t in the bottom ot' the hopper and conveys the same to and discharges it into the funnel I, said box being mounted upon the upper end of the arm K', and being provided with an adjustable bottom and a pivoted gate at its outer end.

So far the mechanism described is constructed and operates substantially like that shown and described in my before-cited patent; but the gearing tor operating the vertical ICO , table,77 were rotated and the measuring-box K wasv vibrated by one and the same cam, which was mounted upon and carried by the Y vertical shaft C, and the plane of rotationV of which was at right angles to the plane of movement of the lever upon which said cam operated, the result of which was an unnecessary amount of friction, due to the pressure im- -parted to said lever -in a direction at right angles to the plane of movement of said lever. Another objection to the arrangement above referred to is that the labor of operating the d turn-table and packing-away plunger was thrown upon a cam having a somewhat abrupt or hard throw, when these vparts might be operated by an easier cam. To overcome these objections, I place two cams upon the shaft E, one cam, J2, acting upon the elbowlever J i, secured to the rocker-shaft J4, for the purpose of reciprocating the rod J and pawl J', and another cam, L, which acts upon the lever L', mounted upon one end ofthe sleeveshaft L2, tothe other end of which is secured the arm K, said sleeve-shaft L2 being mounted upon and oscillated about the rocker-shaft J4, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5. v

In order to adapt the machine to the measuring and packaging of seeds, I place in the receiver the brush b, extendingacross the outer portion'of the throat or opening a, in close proximity to the outer wall of the receivenaud supported by the arm c, secured to the said outer wall, as shown in Fig. 2, the lower ends of the bristles of said brush being on a level with the upper surface of the bottom plate of the receiver and serving the purpose of wiping off the seeds level with the top of the box K as it is moved from beneath the receiver, without danger of bruising the seeds. A flat metal arm, d, is secured by its upper end to the upper end of the shaft C, and extending downward parallel with but somewhat removed, from the inclined side of the cone B2, the sides of said arm being oblique to its line of motion about the cone, or, in other words, having its inner surface at one edge farther from its axis of motion than the other edge, the object of said arm being to move the seed around the'cone and prevent their becoming packed upon that side of the cone `opposite to the opening a. Vhenever it is desired, the receiver may be closed at the top by the cover B4.

In my prior patent the envelopes were placed upon the funnels I by hand, and they were held in position thereon by spring-actuated fingers, upon which the bottoms of the envelopes rested.

, A prominent object of my present invention is'to devise ineans for automatically feeding the envelopes to the funnels and clamping them thereto, andto that end I providea rectangular receptacle, M, composed of a bottom, e, and two sides,fj, said sides and bottom being preferably made adjustable. to adapt the receptacle to different sizes of envelopes; but said sides and bottom may be non-adjustable, different-sized receptacles being provided for" different sized envelopes, without departing from the main principles of myinvention, said receptacle having placed therein a considerl able number of envelopes, e', with the flaps at their open ends unfolded and their open ends upward, which envelopes are fed toward the inner end of the receptacle by the follower N, actuated by the weight N', connected thereto by a llat band, g, which passesfromsaid follower along the bottom ot' the receptacle beneaih the envelopes, and partially around the pulleys h and t', as shown in Fig. 3.

The receptacle M is supported'in thev desired position by the bracket or arm O, secured by one end to the bed A. and provided with two upwardly-projecting ears, jj, in bearings, in which are mounted the screw-shafts k I 7c in such a manner that they maybe revolved therein, but cannot be moved endwise in said bearings. Each of said screwshafts is provided with a crank secured upon one end thereof, by which it may be revolved, and has thereon right and left hand screwethreads, which work in correspondiugly-threaded bearings in the lower ends of uprightbars Z l, to which the sides ff of the receptacle M are secured, so that a revolution of said screw-shafts will cause an equal movement of each of the sides f f toward or from each other.

P is avertieal screw-shaft fitted to athreaded bearing in the arm O, and connected to the bottom e of the receptacle M byaswivel-joint, and provided at its lower end with the handwheel, by which it may be revolved to raise or lower the bottom e, said bottom being further guided and steadied in its up and down movements by the guide rod m, working through a bearing in the outer end of the arm O, which may be secured in any desired position by the set-screw m when properly adjusted. j

,'Ihe follower N rests upon the bottom e, and

'ICO' IIO parts pertaining to its operation move with it,

.and always bear the same relation thereto.

It is obvious that if the sides ff are adjustable, as described, the bottomecan be no wider than the narrowest envelope to be used, and that the screw-shafts must be of sufficient length to permit the sides ff to be adjusted to a distance apart equalto the width of the envelopes e toward the inner end of the re ceptacle M. The sides f f have secured to their inner ends the upwardly-projecting arms Q-one to each side-which are connected together at their upper ends by the bar or plate 0, and at or near the upper edges of the sides ff by thebar or plate p, both ofsaid plates, o and p, being slotted at both ends to receive the clamping-bolts c" or e3, and permit the adjustment of said sides, as shown in Fig. 2.

R is a scroll-like leaf-spring secured by one end to the plate o by means of the clampingplate o and the screws 0* owith its other end resting against the open tiap of the envelope and serving as a yielding stop to limit the inward movement of the upper or open ends of the envelopes, as shown in Fig. 3. By this arrangement of the envelopereeeptacle andthe devices for feeding the same towards the inner end of said receptacle the envelope that is in the advance is presented at the end of the recepta cle with its unfolded iiap pressed slightly back by the spring R, so as to partially open the envelope, as indicated at q in Fig. 3, at which time said advance envelope is in a position to be moved sidewise past the inner end of the sidef of the receptacle M, lthe bottoni e, to which the stop-plate e is secured, project ing beyond the inner end of the sidef of the envelopereceptacle towards the seed-receiver B., to permit said removal, as shown in Fig. 1I.

In the machine described in my beforecited Letters Patent the annular stationary cam G was provided upon its front side with a series of throws,which in succession raised each funnel-carrying arm as the head H was revolved, and allowed them to drop again to insure the discharge of any powder that might adhere to the funnels and deposit it in the envelope, and finally to discharge the filled envelope from the funnel. v

To carry out my object of automatically applying the envelopes to the tunnels, I form an additional cam-throw, 1*, upon said cam G, to raise each arm H3 to the position shown in Fig. Sjust before its funnel I reaches aposition directly in front ofthe pack of envelopes in the receptacle M, at which time the arm H3 passes off from the throw r and falls to its normal or horizontal position, in doing which the thin point or lower end ofthe funnel I strikes and presses slightly backward the lower end of the spring It, and as it passes therefrom it comes in close Contact with the rear portion ofthe envelope and enters between the front and rear portions, and as it descends into the envelope the spring-arm s yields to allow the short side of the envelope to pass between it and the funnel, where it is held by the pressure of said arm until its pressure is removed by the arm s coming in contact with the rod t at the point where the filled envelope is to be deposited, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

In order to insure the envelope being earried bodily out of the envelope-receptacle, I form the tunnels I as shown in Figs. 8, 9, and IO-that is, with their lower ends slightly in advance of their upper ends upon the side toward which they move in conveying the envelope, so that as said funnel is moved by the rotation of the head Hl and the arm H3, after the funnel has entered the envelope, it shall maintain the envelopein an upright position by bearing against its forward fold for a considerable portion of its height. The funnels I, instead of rising and falling in a curved path', as shown, may be arranged to rise 'and fall in a right line without departing from the principles of my invention.

S is the packing-off plunger, mounted upon the bar S', having bearings in the stands S2 S", and connected by the lever T, pivoted at u to the rod J, which imparts thereto a reciprocation in an obvious manner, all as shown in Fig. 7. rlhe rod J is moved in one direction by the cam J2, and in the opposite direction by the spring J5, and the measuring-box K is moved in one direction by the cam L, and in the other direction by the spring L. Then the measuring-box is moved from beneath the receiver to discharge its contents into the fun- .nel I, as in my prior patent, the throat a is closed by the plate a', which is tted to a dovetailed slide in the bottom of the receiver, as shown in Figs. l2 and 13, so as to be moved back beneath the cone B2 by the box K when in position beneath the receiver, and to be moved outward to close the throat a by the tension of the spring a2, secured to the interior of the cone B2, as shown in Fig. 2, the construction of said spring being shown in Figs.

14 and 15.' The spring-clamp s is formed of a piece of wire doubled upon itself at its middle and soldered together at the point where the arm s is soldered thereto, above which point the two wires diverge and have formed at their upper ends two coils, s2, and near the lower end of the doubled portion of the clamp is formed the bend s3, the convex side of which rests against the envelope to clamp it to the funnel I, all as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The cams J2 and' L each have two throws, so that the rod J and the measuringbox K are both moved to and fro twice to each revolution of the shafts C and E.

Instead of making the bottom of the envelope-receptacle adjustable, it may be secured in a fixed position, and the spring may be raised or lowered on the uprights Q, Q, by means of the slots formed in said uprights and the screw-bolts e, as shown in lFig. 2.

O is a vertically-movable rod, mounted in the tubular stand O, and provided with the radially-projecting pin u', with which the inclined slot u in the cam-plate O3 engages, so that as the rod J is moved to the right to move the turn-table a step in its revolution the rod O is moved upward, so as to stop the arm H' ICO at the proper point to accurately register the funnel l in the proper position to receive the contents of the measuring-box K, the movement of the rod J to the left preparatory to another movement of the turntable or head H causing the rod Oto be withdrawn from the path of the arm H, so'that it may pass over the stop, which is again raised before the next arm reaches it.

YVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In a machine for measuring and packaging seeds and other substances, provided with a series of interinittingly-movable funnels,

each arranged and adapted to receive and hold an envelope and convey it to the place for filling the envelope, and then to the place for discharging the same, a rectangular receptacle for receiving and holding a large number of envelopes arranged with their open ends upward, in combination with a fixed stop to arrest the forward movement of the bottoms, of said envelopes, a yielding stop arranged to press against the unfolded iiap of the forward envelope and limit its forward motion, a follower for moving said envelopes forward, and a weight connected to said follower and arranged to press the same against the mass of envelopes and move them toward the point of delivery, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a machine for measuring and packaging seeds and other substances, of an envelope-receptacle, an automaticallymovable'follower, a fixed stop at bottom of the delivery end of said receptacle, a yielding stop arranged to press against the unfolded' flap of the forward .envelope and limit its forward movement, and a funnel having a thin flat lower end, and arranged kto be moved downward into the forward envelope in said receptacle, and then to be moved horizontally to withdraw said envelope from the receptacle and convey it to the place for filling the same, substantially as described.

3. The combination of an envelope-containing receptacle, an automatically-movable fol` lower, Xed and yielding stops to limit the forward movement ofthe mass of envelopes, a funnel having a thin flat knile-`like lower en d, mechanism for raising said funnel and causing it to descend into the interior of the forward envelope, a spring-clamp for clamping said envelope to the funnel, and mechanism for moving said funnel and envelope from said receptacle to the place for filling the same, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the receiver B, provided With theopening a, the measuring-box K, the intermittingly-revolving head H, the radius-arm H3, the funnel l, the spring-clamp s, the envelope-receptacle M, the fixed stop ez, the spring-stop R, the follower N, and weight N, all arranged and adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes described.

5. The combination of the bracket or arm O, provided withthe ears j j, the right and left threaded screws la It, the side plates, ff,

provided with threaded bearings to fit said.

said arm, the bottom plate, e, connected to m said screw by a swivel-joint, and the pulleys t' and h, the follower-guides it and fn, and the guide-rod m, all mounted upon and adjustable with said bottom plate, e, substantially as described.

7. The funnel I, having its lower end smaller than its upper end and curved to one side, so that the forward side Ofits lower end shall be slightly in advance of the forward side of its upper portion, substantially as described.,

8. The combination, with the tapered funnel I, of the springclamp s, provided with the arm s', the two coils s2, and the bend s3, all arranged and adapted to operate substantially Pand i'or the purposes described.

9. The combination of the envelope-receptacle M, the follower N, the band g, attached by one end to the lower edge of the follower and extending therefrom to the front end of u IOO" ing stop to limit the forward movement of the upper end of said envelopes, said bottom and yielding stop being constructed and arranged to be adjusted one toward the other to adapt the receptacle to envelopes of different lengths.

1l. In a machine4 for packaging seeds and other substances, the combination ot' a receiver to contain the seeds or other substance, a vibrating measuring-box. a turn-table provided with a series of radiating arms, each carrying at its end a funnel to receive the material to b e packaged, mechanism for imparting to said turn-table and arms an intermittent rotary motion, a vertically-movable stop for limiting the movement of saidturntable, and a reciprocating slotted camplate for moving said stop, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 9th day of Septemtember, A. D. 1885.

JOSEPH c. BROWN. l

Witnesses:

GEORGE F. HARVEY, FRED MENGEs. 

